My Account

My basket

Search

Departments

You are here

faq Forks / Front End

QUESTION FORKSDear Sirs, Can you tell me the approx weight savings for your billet alloy yoke kit compared to the standard parts? Also, is the offset that you quote of 2 13/16's the same as the standard offset for my 74 Commando 850? ANSWERHello, Not a lot of weight to be saved there maybe 30% sections are a lot thicker than the iron yokes, offset is the same as your Commando but on the 850 they did not keep the stanchions parallel with the steering head stem, they tweaked it slightly, we did not, so technically they are not quite correct, I would not recommend them unless you are building a special and planning to fit a steering damper.

QUESTION FORKSI have a 1974 Commando 850 kick start with right foot shift. I would like to purchase an alloy yoke set and stem but I understand that the fork rake was changed in either 74 or 75. Can you tell me about this and what offset or rake I should be looking for on my machine?ANSWERThank you for your enquiry, without getting the drawings out and checking them from memory I think the early Commando and featherbeds had an offset of 2 1/4" the yokes changed to stem fixed in top yoke, approx 1970 and the offset increased to 2 5/8" these yokes had parallel bores, i.e. steering stem and stanchions ran parallel. The frame angle was altered on the 850 and whilst the offset remained nominally the same the stanchions no longer ran parallel with the steering stem. Fitting 750 yokes to an 850 does tend to upset the straight line stability and so you are correct, you need 850 yokes. Whilst I have made a lot of alloy yokes I have never made any specific for 850. I intend to but we are always very busy and have a lot of projects on the go. Not sure when I will get round to that one. Maybe something Colorado Norton can help with.

QUESTION FORKSI had a problem with a fork damper rod alloy bought to you this month.Dia of the rod is 9.75 mm, and it's oblong, so I can't fit the cap on the rod.ANSWERThe problem here is that the racing or Manx parts have a much closer tolerance here (than ordinary road parts). If using steel rods it would be possible to have them centerless ground to be a snug fit, they would be a lot more expensive of course. The rods as made are not machined at all on the diameter it is just bought in bar size oddly or perhaps it varies from batch too batch the 3/8" alloy rods are about .003" bigger than the bought in 3/8" steel rods, there will be a certain tolerance here. Measuring the rods and the size of the hole in the damper top cap there is about .002" clearance so in theory they will fit however discrepancies, high spots and out of round makes them appear too big. Personally I just polish the rods down with a bit of 1200 wet and dry checking them all the time with the cap and that allows me to achieve a perfect fit. The standard alloy top caps have a much greater clearance and unless the end user wants to spend time achieving the perfect fit that's the ones to use. steel rods with alloy top caps, about .010" clearance from memory so any rod and cap always go together.

QUESTION FORKSHi there, I have just purchased one of your Covenant fork damper conversion kits and I am wondering whether it would work together with a Lansdowne DampersANSWERInteresting question, interesting product, I have never seen a Lansdown conversion, I had a look at them and they seem very nice regarding the covenant kit I would say that if the Lansdown kit is as good as it looks and they say it is then the covenant kit is unlikely to improve it, I would add that its a bit of overkill for most bikes/riders but fitting nice products to your pride and joy is all part of the hobby.

QUESTION FORKSWhere's your Norton fork brace 7 3/8 Crs ? Please advise when available.ANSWERMorning, we have made several batches of fork braces over the years but not for several years, basically not enough hours in the day but that said I have been thinking about it lately and it did get entered on the parts to make list, that list is however nine pages long so its not imminent but a definite possibility.

QUESTION FORKSJust working on another order and I want to clarify a few things.Is your Strap wrench suitable for use on the front fork oil seal retaining collars or is it only for use on the oil filter? And Secondly I previously bought your kit SC77 the stainless fasteners for pre Mark 3 footrest arms but on disassembly I found that my footrest arms were retained by 2 studs and 1 long bolt on each side (i.e. the Z plate on the brake side had had one of its holes drilled through like the one on the gear selector side where the longer bolt passes through the earth wire.) So in short I want to know can I purchase that bolt and nut as a separate item and if so what number do I quote?ANSWERHello, good to hear from you again. the strap wrench would be ideal for the fork seal holders, the sliders often need to be warmed up sometimes they can be very tight but this will work fine.No problem re the longer bolt for the footrest, we can supply that on part number 061246. The nut is a 5/16 BSW on our part number SC94.